Dr Sylvie Nantcha, chairman of The African Network of Germany (TANG), which is currently carrying out an awareness and sensitisation campaign in the African community on the coronavirus epidemic/Photo: TANG

TANG renews call to Africans in Germany over coronavirus

April 3, 2020

TANG, a network of hundreds of African organisations in Germany, has renewed its call to Africans in Germany to comply with social contact restrictions over the coronavirus pandemic as it loses a founding member to the disease

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Dr Sylvie Nantcha, chairman of The African Network of Germany (TANG), has renewed her call to Africans in Germany to comply with social contact restrictions currently in force all over the country.

Nantcha made the call on Thursday while addressing a video conference of regional executives of the organisation, reiterating that it was in the interest of Africans like other residents of the country to co-operate with government so that the current efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease could succeed.

Nantcha cited official statistics which show that Germany had 73,522 confirmed cases of the corona virus infection as of Thursday morning, an increase of 6,156 over the previous day. The number of people who had died from the disease increased by 140 to 872 within only 24 hours.

Nantcha said these figures show that the populace must exert more efforts to curb the epidemic. “Only the success of the restrictions can enable normalcy to be restored in the country soon,” Nantcha added.

Pastor Martin Ngnoubamdjum (3rd from left), Dr Sylvie Nantcha (4th from left) and members of TANG’s state board in Baden-Württenberg. It was at the launching ceremony of the state’s chapter of TANG in Mannheim, June 2018. Pastor Ngnoubamdjum was a founding member of the organisation and its chairman in Pforzheim/Photo: TANG

The conference was overshadowed by the demise of a founding member of TANG, Pastor Martin Ngnoubamdjum, who died on Monday of complications arising from a coronavirus infection. The 74-year-old Cameroon-born clergyman, who lived in Pforzheim, died at the Mannheim university clinic.

Dr Nantcha described Ngnoubamdjum’s death as a big loss to the organisation, while paying glowing tributes to him for his tireless efforts to advance the interests of the African community. “He was a big personality in the African community,” she said. “He was a pastor, entrepreneur and community activist who moved a lot of things for Africans in Baden-Wüttenberg.”

Nantcha expressed the organisation’s deep condolences to the family of Pastor Ngnoubamdjum.

“I am deeply affected by this news. I wish the bereaved a lot of strength and confidence in this difficult time,” Pforzheim’s Mayor Peter Boch had also commented in a press statement, expressing his condolences. The deceased was affectionately known as Brother Martin in the western German town.

TANG, a network of more than 700 African associations and individual members in Germany, is currently carrying out an awareness and sensitisation campaign in the African community on the coronavirus epidemic.

The action tagged Coronavirus TANG #Telefonaktion, which kicked off on 17 March, mobilises community associations to inform their members properly about the disease and the efforts of the government to curtail it.

Nantcha praised members of TANG and African associations that are collaborating with them on the campaign, revealing that the federal government appreciates the role of migrant organisations in the ongoing war against the coronavirus epidemic.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday announced the extension of the partial lockdown of the country from 5 April until 19 April after consultations with the premiers of the 16 federal states. Further decisions would depend on the progress of the current containment efforts, she said.

Quoting the director of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s agency for disease control and prevention, Nantcha said the spread of the new coronavirus could not be stopped absolutely but it could be slowed so that the country’s health facilities were not overburdened.

“Every one of us is important in this war,” she said, quoting Chancellor Merkel. “Our families need us, Germany needs us,” Dr Nantcha added, making a passionate plea to Africans to comply with official restriction measures.

According to Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA), 938,373 people in 180 countries worldwide have been infected with the corona virus and 47,273 people have died of the disease as of 2 April (9am).